Saint Lucia Day festivities begin

Image courtesy of the American Swedish Historical Museum
With the lights dimmed, Lucia proceeds down the grand stair case as she and her attendants sing the traditional Sankta Lucia songat the American Swedish Hisorical Museum in Philadelphia.

This is the weekend that Saint Lucia Day festivities begin. Philadelphia has two sites which produce wonderful Lucia Fest pageants — Gloria Dei Old Swedes’ Church and the American Swedish Historical Museum. Another top-flight celebration is staged in Wilmington, Del.

Lucia is a Swedish festival that began in 17th-century Sweden as a festival of light in the midst of the darkest days of winter. In America’s Swedish communities, the event features a Lucia procession with traditional songs and dances. Lucia, wearing a white gown and a crown of candles, leads the procession, followed by girls dressed in gowns who act as her attendants. Boys also join the festivities as starboys.

The American Swedish Historical Museum will present its Lucia Celebration and Julmarknad (Christmas Bazaar) on Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Lucia Processions will begin at 1 and 3 p.m. Swedish needlecrafts, pastries and other delicacies will be for sale in the Julmarknad, while imported gifts, crafts and Christmas decorations will be featured in the museum gift shop.

At Gloria Dei Old Swedes’ Church, a number of Swedish traditions of the holiday season are woven into a colorful pageant that is presented in a church building constructed by Swedish colonists in 1699-1700. The climax is the entrance of “Santa Lucia,” who was a martyr in the 4th century. The church’s Lucia Processions will be held Dec. 6 at 6 and 8 p.m. tonight and Dec. 7 and 8 at 2, 3:30 and 5 p.m.

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There will also be another Santa Lucia celebration on Dec. 8 in Wilmington, Del. The Old Swedes’ Church will host its annual Lucia Fest from 2-5 p.m. Activities include tours of the Hendrickson House Museum which will be decorated for a Swedish Christmas. Additionally, the site’s Swedish gift shop will be open with a selection of handmade Swedish ornaments, crafts, dolls, linens and books.